3 Ways Students Can Encourage Their Youth Pastor

Most people think I never have a bad day.

I mean, working for the church must be great, right? All of these perfect people serving a perfect God must equal a perfect job. But you know what? The church isn’t perfect! And the people in the church aren’t perfect and, well … I’m not perfect either. Which means I have bad days. It means I get discouraged. It means things get tough sometimes.

So when someone takes the time to encourage me, it is a BIG deal. When someone says something genuine and kind it makes my day. When I get a note or a pat on the back it fills me right back up. Here are a few SMALL ways you can be a BIG encouragement to the youth pastor or small group leader in your life:

The good old-fashioned “thank you” noteI have a whole drawer filled with thank you notes! I LOVE them! They meant the world to me. Cards … and gift cards (hahahahha) are huge. So meaningful.

A simple but thoughtful giftIt doesn’t have to be big – just a small, thoughtful gift is so encouraging. The other day someone left me a Darth Vader™ mug on my office door – I use it every day and it is so uplifting. Cost isn’t the concern, the thought counts for so much!

Babysit for our family!If you really want to make my day, watch our kids so we can go catch a movie and catch up. It would be a huge gift to me!

One last thought – words mean far more than you’ll ever know. If I could encourage you to do just one thing – I would say give him or her the gift of your words. Words are so big, a passing comment to you may just fuel them for another season of ministry. There are no perfect people or perfect churches, but your words could come at a perfect time.

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Josh Griffin is one of the leading voices in youth ministry with over 20 years experience in the trenches, most recently as the High School Pastor at Saddleback Church. He's the co-founder of DownloadYouthMinistry.com and been in 300+ episodes of the DYM Podcast with Doug Fields. He's created more than 50 youth ministry resources and authored several books including 99 Thoughts for Small Group Leaders. Josh and his wife Angela have 4 kids, which now includes 2 teenagers of their own! Contact Josh | Speaking Requests